The end of the calendar year features Best-of (and the sometimes even more entertaining Worst-of) lists for everything and anything you could imagine. For example, check out Time Magazine and their massive selection of lists…

When the New Year rolls around, list time is mostly over and awards time begins. Librarians like awards almost as much as they like lists. The early winter has the Oscars for movies, the Grammys for music and a bunch of other awards shows for celebrity gazing. But one awards presentation reigns supreme for us in the library.

The ALA Youth Media Awards!

Yes: It’s the time of year we see what books have won the most prestigious youth book awards in the nation. We got in to the library extra-early this morning with our eyes glued to our Twitter feed to find out which of our favorites would take home the Newbery, the Caldecott, the Printz, the Alex and more…so here are some of the big winners in the categories for Teen literature:

The Michael L. Printz Award and William C. Morris Award for Debut Fiction

(It’s a big deal that this book won both…!)

Printz Honor Books

Also winning: The Newbery Award (probably the most famous award of the bunch) went to Jack Gantos for Dead End in Norvelt. The Caldecott Award (for illustrations) was given to Chris Raschka for A Ball for Daisy.

We’ll showcase the Alex Awards in another post next week.

Did your favorite books make the list? If you were handing out awards for this year’s best books, which books would you give them to?

You can find these books at the Fairfield Public Library and the Fairfield Woods Branch. Happy reading!

Wild Flag

Beirut

Katy B

Dawes

David Guetta

James Blake

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr

Cults

Also of note: You can now check out a CD from the Fairfield Public Library for one week. So…there’s that.

As we grow from kids into teens, it becomes more and more important to give then to receive, so here are some book ideas for you that might make great gifts for the grown-ups in your life:

Have you ever rushed to the library looking for a study guide only to find that they are all checked out? (Okay, okay…have you ever been in the library and remembered that you could get things like Cliffs Notes here and the one you need is all checked out?)

Well, next time we don’t have what you need on hand, you can always go online. Through our digital download service, Overdrive, you can access lots of books and audiobooks, including popular titles by Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins and Maggie Stiefvater, but Cliffs Notes too! Downloading this stuff to your eReader (Kindle, Nook, etc), computer, or smart phone (iPhone, Droid, etc) is easy and the best part: It’s all free. You get to keep the stuff on your device for two weeks and then it returns to us. You can even place holds.

Between Overdrive, Tutor.com and PrepMe, it seems like almost everything you can get in the library you can get from the library…at home!

Even our librarians are online: Friend LibraryladyNicole on Facebook or follow @fplteens on Twitter for up-to-the-minute info on whats going on in the library (or whatever nonsense we are currently obsessed with…this, for example: It’s from our favorite picture book of the year, Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage:

Yes. We still read picture books. Anyway, the point is that…oh never mind. Look at this! Gotta love walruses! (walrusi?):

And now, this:

Seriously: Don’t be surprised to see a bunch of your favorite librarians lined up to see this on opening day.

Hello readers!

This year, the Fairfield Public Library is going all out for Teen Read Week. We are celebrating teen literature and all the people who love it.

So what’s going on?

• Win books! Check our Facebook and Twitter feeds for information on what local shops to visit each day to win a free book. All you have to do is tell them its Teen Read Week and you’ll get a great book!
• Win a $100 gift card! Visit the Main or Branch library on Wednesday, 10/19 or Thursday 10/20 (half-days!) from 1 to 4 PM to record a tribute to your favorite teen book. Or, post your written tribute on our Facebook page. Or, tweet us with your favorites. Any of these things will get you entered into a raffle for a $100 Amex Gift Card!
• Win other stuff! Visit the library on Friday 10/21 afterschool and try your had at ‘This…is…Lit-pardy,‘ our version of a famous game show where the categories are all about your favorite teen reads! Prizes will include snacks, books and more gift cards!

If winning stuff isn’t for you (I suppose people like this exist…somewhere) than just visit the library and pick up a teen book: An old favorite like The Outsiders, a new classic like The Invention of Hugo Cabret, or just try something new and outside of your reading comfort zone (visit our book blog if you need some fresh ideas!).

And if books aren’t your thing, check out our new downloadable service, where you can get the latest books on your mobile devices and e-readers right from home!

You never know: Your new favorite story might just be waiting for you at the library!

I’m supposed to talk about how you can register now online for the after-hours, run-around-the-library-screaming-and-being-silly event, which is on Saturday, October 1st from 5:45 to 8 PM at the Main Library.

But I can’t. Because of this:

Wonderstruck is the new book by the amazing, incomparable Mr. Brian Selznick, author of our 2008 One Book One Town selection The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Those of you who met Brian back then when he visited our town can tell you: The dude is awesome. And this book is amazing!

Also new: Wildwood by Colin Meloy with illustrations by Carson Ellis. Ms. Ellis, of course, is responsible for the terrific artwork in the Mysterious Benedict Society series. Her husband, Mr. Meloy is famous too: He is the lead singer for one of our favorite bands, The Decemberists. (Visit Nicole’s office and she’s probably singing along to one of their albums. Loudly.) Wildwood is a great adventure story and worth checking out!

So, yeah. Mystery Night is coming…maybe I can put these books down for long enough to get ready for it!

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Edda by Conor Kostick

Always a Witch by Carolyn McCullough

The Project by Brian Falkner

Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World of Food

Nyx in the House of Night edited by P.C. Cast 

Wolverine/Hercules by Frank Tieri and Juan Santacruz

An earthquake on Tuesday and now (maybe) a hurricane this weekend makes us ask ‘what is going on with the weather?’

When you stop by the library this weekend to grab all your ‘trapped-in-the-house’ essentials, make sure you come to the Teen Room and pick up some books and movies.

What are we taking home with us to brave the storm* with? Since we might not have the distraction of TVs or computers if the power goes, it feels like a good time to sink into some classics. You know: The books you know you should read, but never seem to get around to.

Our quick list: Jane Eyre (and maybe its warped cousin, The Wide Sargasso Sea), The House of Mirth, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Once and Future King and the Annotated Brother’s Grimm, a gorgeous collection of the ‘original’ fairy tales.

If this sounds like a good plan to you, visit the Classics sections in the Teen libraries at both the Main Library and Woods Branch.

Stay safe everybody!

*By brave, what we mean is freaking out and hiding under the bed.

Another great summer reading season has drawn to a close: Over 300 readers played the You Are Here reading game, and lots of them came to our finale party to celebrate and win some prizes.

Yes, we gave away an iPod Touch, a ukulele, a didgeridoo, gift cards and lots of autographed books, but the real buzz was around our annual “Mystery Prize.” What was it, you ask?

A pineapple. Yup. You can’t say we didn’t warn you! Kudos to Emily S., who not only graciously accepted her prize, but apparently has grown rather fond of it…

The reading game might be over, but you still have a few weeks left to complete your reading assignments. Visit the Teen library at both the Main and Woods Branches to find what you need, or get suggestions from Nicole and Jen.

Make the most of this time…school starts in two weeks!